1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to garage door opener systems.
2. Background Art
Garage door opener systems include a portable transmitter and a garage door opener (GDO). The GDO is mounted in a garage. The GDO includes a controller for actuating a mechanical device to open or close the garage door. The GDO includes a receiver for wirelessly receiving signals. In operation, a user activates the transmitter to open or close the garage door. In turn, the transmitter wirelessly transmits a garage door signal recognized by the GDO receiver. Upon the GDO receiver receiving the garage door signal, the GDO controller actuates the mechanical device to open or close the garage door.
Some vehicles include integrated vehicle transceivers for controlling a GDO. A vehicle transceiver learns the garage door signal recognized by the GDO receiver. Typically, the learning process includes placing the transceiver into a programming mode and using the portable transmitter to transmit the garage door signal to the transceiver. The transceiver learns the received garage door signal as being the garage door signal recognized by the GDO receiver. In operation, a user activates the transceiver which in turn wirelessly transmits the garage door signal recognized by the GDO receiver to open or close the garage door. A problem with such transceivers is programming difficulty encountered by users.
Some vehicles include hands-free telephone systems. A hands-free telephone system enables a user to talk on a cell phone while using both hands for driving the vehicle. Some hands-free telephone systems use a voice recognition module (VRM) which enables the user to answer and make cell phone calls and re-dial numbers using voice commands. Some hands-free telephone systems use a Bluetooth communications module for wirelessly communicating with a Bluetooth enabled cell phone in the vehicle. During a call between a user using the cell phone and another party over a telecommunications network, the communications module receives the voice signals from the user via a microphone and wirelessly communicates the voice signals to the cell phone for transmission over the telecommunications network for receipt by the other party. Likewise, during the call, the communications module wirelessly receives the voice signals from the other party from the cell phone and outputs the voice signals of the other party through the vehicle speakers for the user to hear. The communications module can communicate with any Bluetooth enabled device in the vicinity of the vehicle even if the device is external to the vehicle.
It would be desirable for a GDO receiver and a Bluetooth enabled communications module of a vehicle to communicate with one another such that the GDO receiver functions as a communications gateway module for enabling communications among the vehicle, devices of the house of the garage, and telecommunications networks.